The present invention relates to a remote lightning monitoring system, and more particularly to a lightning monitoring system wherein instruments located in the vincinity wherein the lightning is being monitored are carried within radio frequency interference (RFI) proof environmental housings so as to minimize electrical interference.
It has become very important, particularly in the space industry, to monitor lightning strikes so as to determine the characteristics and intensity of such at all times. This is particularly important in environments wherein sensitive instruments and equipment are being utilized which may be damaged by lightning strikes exceeding certain intensities. It is also possible that certain transient voltages may damage or destroy information that is stored in computers and various control equipment.
Techniques used in the past to measure currents and voltages produced by lightning strikes are very limited since the feedback information concerning the data is too slow, inaccurate and insufficient. Hours or even days often elapse before data is made available to help evaluate the damages caused by lightning strikes. The reason for such delay is that the instrumentation requires manual read/reset, which takes many man hours to collect and accumulate. In addition, hazardous conditions sometimes delay access to the instrumentation area and thus delays the reading of the meters. Very often the instrumentation gives an erroneous reading because of the inneracting interference from intense electric and magnetic fields that are normally associated with lightning. Some of the instrumentation is too slow in responding and thus fails to capture the true value of the lightning strike data. Power failure often causes complete failure of the measurement instrumentation.